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The summer vacation is just around the corner, and vacationing with your own camper is more popular than ever. In 2024, a staggering 193,135 Dutch people owned such a house on wheels. How fun is vanlife now that it’s getting more crowded? These seasoned campers share tips.
Get in your camper, book nothing, and drive to the region you want to be in. This way you come to surprising places and avoid stress about arriving on time. And there is always a place to stand somewhere, says Hannah König.
She is the delighted owner of a HYMER camper and travels with her husband and children as much as possible in their camper. “It gives freedom to just step in and not book your entire stay.” They talk about their adventures and especially all their tips and tricks in the podcast Hannah’s Hymer.
It is a romantic dream to travel with your own camper, and more and more people are making it come true. When about four years ago during the corona pandemic the whole world went into lockdown, many people bought a camper to regain some freedom.
That trend remained: there are only more camper owners joining. The Camping and Caravan Industry (KCI) recently announced that there are now 193,135 registered campers driving around in the Netherlands, a record number. Within ten years, the number of ‘campers’ has doubled, according to the Dutch Camper Club (NKC).
Insta-worthy vacation snapshots
On Instagram, we see the vanlifers settle down in the French Alsace and sip glasses full of cool Riesling. Or roll out their awning on a sunny beach, catch shrimp themselves and prepare them in their camper. Or visit a Viking village, drive on to the vast Danish Wadden Sea and suddenly encounter the Northern Lights.
You can experience that kind of Insta-worthy vacation with a camper, says König. Yet it is wise to scale back expectations a bit. “In the first year I immediately wanted to see the most fantastic places, but there is also sometimes car trouble. Or delays on the road, or places that are not as beautiful as you thought.”
Moreover, it is an expensive hobby. The maintenance costs are high, fuel is also expensive and this is probably your second vehicle next to a passenger car.
Setback is part of it
So calculate that setbacks are sometimes part of it. And let yourself be surprised, says König. “In Alsace we were very annoyed that all the campsites around the city of Colmar were complet, full so. Eventually we ended up at a municipal campsite a few villages away. That was a super cheap campsite with a lovely swimming pool and a great bakery. And we could walk to the train station to visit Colmar by train. It was ultimately a much better place.”
Camper travel is often presented as idyllic and romantic, says Stan Stolwerk, director of NKC. “It often is. You are free to go where you want. It is a great way to spend your holiday.”
And the social media pictures of campers on beautiful steep cliffs or empty beaches? The question is whether the maker is allowed to stand there, says Stolwerk. “Don’t be tempted to stand in protected places that you know are not allowed. The preservation of those beautiful spots is part of your adventure. Camper travel is already environmentally damaging, be aware of that.”
Not all to the south at once
More campers on the road means that campsites and camper places respond to the demand and increase their prices. It also means that the parking facilities in the Netherlands are full and that spontaneous arrival is no longer possible at every campsite.
Stolwerk: “Reserving for a campsite is at odds with the freedom urge of the camper, who is precisely looking for that freedom now. But if you absolutely want to go to a very popular place in high season, you will have to. Spreading is smart; in season and in location. We don’t all have to go to France and Spain at the same time.”
Don’t forget the Netherlands, König suggests, who worked on the camper inspiration guide Rondje Nederland last year. “You can suddenly end up in another world with little travel time. In Lopik, half an hour’s drive for us, we were at an amazing polder campsite. Limburg is incredibly beautiful, and the village of Niehove in Groningen seemed like the end of the world.”
A walk in the green, walking bike with you, somewhere having coffee in the sun in a new place. König: “Then I’m perfectly happy.”